Ghost of a Chance
by Elvenfox
Summary: She knew one thing, she was dead. But what afterlife was she currently in that includes wizards, dwarves, elves, and something called a hobbit? The beauty of her surroundings made her think heaven, especially when she found an angel in a dwarf, but it felt like hell when she has to accept that the one she loves does not believe in nor know of her existence. KiliXOC
1. Chapter 1

** Ok new story, based on the hobbit. Hopefully it's different than other stories out there, yes it is a KiliXOC but in a different, complicated way. Let me know what you think!**

**xXx**

Of all the things in her life, she had never been more sure of anything than the thought currently going through her head. It may have seemed an impossibility, after all you read only about these kind of things in fairy tales and campfire stories, but when you lined up the facts there was no denying it.

She was surprisingly calm about it.

It wasn't a surprise, at the rate she drove, at her usual speed and her inability to listen to ads on the radio. She had been sure no one was coming, but the bend came too quickly and the oncoming traffic didn't have enough time to swerve, and her eyes had been busy working the buttons on the dash.

The pain hadn't lasted long, it dulled quickly as she stared up at the clouds floating by. A brief thought went through her head about the other people involved but then her thoughts had landed into a mush in her mind.

Briefly thoughts flashed by in her head, from her closeness to finally being done with school, to the fact that the dirt she was laying in was surely ruining her burgundy dress, her costume for the school play. Such silly thoughts at the time.

Then the thoughts disappeared for a time, and the sky grew brighter and brighter, and she finally realized fully what was happening.

Her name was Alexandra London, and at eighteen years of age, she was dead.

**xXx**

Alexandra ran her last thoughts through her mind now, the fact that she was dead was weighing on her, but with that knowledge came the nagging question of her current predicament. She had always supposed when she died, at least she had hoped, that there would be bright lights and pearly gates. A man standing before her telling her that well she hadn't lived a perfect life she was still welcome to join her ancestors and lost friends and family in the land where buildings were white and shiny. She was expecting white robes and harp music being played continuously like they do in doctor's offices. She expected to find an inner peace that could not be felt on earth and to live happily ever after, soon to be joined by her friends, remaining family, and hopefully even the pets she had lost in her time.

What she wasn't expecting was to wake up alongside a dirt road, under the shade of some large trees. There was no white robe, she was still wearing her costume that she had been driving in. Harp music was replaced by birds chirping happily, and instead of being surrounded my lost friends and family, she found herself alone in the sun.

"Well this is effed up…" Alexandra whispered to herself. When she first had come to and realized her setting, she had just kept staring, dumbfounded, at the sky above her; which she swore was bluer than the one she had seen before she had died. Maybe this was heaven, it certainly was beautiful, but if this was heaven then there was definitely going to need to be some editing with the stereotypical views of the afterlife.

Alexandra looked around, and upon quick contemplation, decided that she wanted to see what surroundings were around her. Walking up to a tall tree, Alexandra looked up to see thick branches all the way to the top, an excellent tree to climb. Her only problem was the branch closest to her was higher than her reach, her frame not quite gracing five feet and this branch at least six feet off the ground. Her fingers barely brushed the smooth bark. She jumped several times, the last time finally grabbing the branch, but her hand slipped after mere seconds and she landed on her butt on the soft grass.

"I hate my life." She paused and thought over her words. "I take it back, I hate my death." She took a huffed breath and stared at the branch in anger.

She had felt a quick breeze and suddenly she was sitting on the branch she had a second ago been staring at. The change came so quickly that she had to catch herself, else she would have fallen back onto the grass.

'Neat trick…' she thought to herself, and she planned on practicing it later. At the moment she started to climb the tree at a comfortable speed, her feet finding firm plants on the branches even though in the back of her mind she supposed falling wouldn't do much to her at this point. All she wanted was to see if when she reached the top, maybe she could find the missing people here to welcome her.

The sky was definitely bluer here than when she was alive, she thought as the sun made her briefly close her eyes as she reached the highest branches. When she opened them again there was no denying the simplistic beauty around her didn't make her catch her breath. All around here were fields greener than any high definition picture, and where there wasn't shimmering grass, there were trees larger and healthier than any she had ever seen. How perfect this land was, it had to be some sort of heaven. There was still only one problem…

"Where is my bloody welcoming committee?!" Alexandra shouted in frustration to the wind as it blew by her, and for a moment she thought it appeared slightly stronger as her anger joined it. A bird landed on a smaller branch next to her and she glared at it.

"Unless you're here to deliver my invitation to where everyone is I would fly away if I were you." The birds head cocked to one side as it hopped around, tweeting happily. Alexandra sighed out some annoyance.

"Great, heaven appears to be one big Disney landscape. Where are my mice friends running around, making me new clothes?" She wasn't sure, but she swore the bird shook it's head briefly. Could heavenly birds understand her? It tweeted shrilly one more time before fluttering off to the east, Alexandra's eyes following it for a moment before distance made it disappear.

With no tweeting around her head, Alexandra took a moment to listen around her, and was surprised to notice a lot of talking and laughing coming her way. Her head whipped back and forth until her eyes spotted coming along the dirt road far below her, a group on horses coming her way.

'About time!' She thought to herself before she realized she would never climb down fast enough to catch their attention. After a few of her favorite words she glared angrily at the ground, and thought for a moment about just jumping. After all, as far as she knew, you couldn't die twice.

As it was with the branch, Alexandra found herself caught up in a split second wind before finding herself back on the grass, her eyes still staring at her feet. She was really going to need to learn how to control that, the effect was making her slightly dizzy.

She didn't have long to wait as the group of men on horses came closer to her. This was her first thought, until she realized that the males were on ponies and were in fact looking to be her height if not slightly smaller. Dear Lord, there were dwarves coming her way, and behind them cloaked all in grey appeared to be a old but tall man.

'Oh my God, heaven is a Disney film.' The thought stuck in the front of her mind, and she couldn't help but giggle slightly at it. She walked out from under the tree as they neared her, a very serious looking dwarf leading the way.

"Hello!" She waved and smiled, hoping that maybe the ones in front of her could direct her through the afterlife…the Disneyfied afterlife. Her smile grew. The dwarves and their ponies trotted closer and closer, and the corners of her mouth fell as they didn't slow down. The ponies noticed her, and maneuvered around her, much to their master's chagrin, but the dwarves paid her no heed, even as she stood in the middle of the group.

"Hello!" She shouted louder, the anger in her surpassing it's current level at the fact that she was being ignored. She was newly dead, she didn't need the stress of rude dwarves on ponies making her more annoyed.

"That was quite a gust there!" a bald dwarf with a long dark beard and tattoos shouted loudly. Alexandra stopped her waving and once again found herself wondering if this was due to her frustration again. Maybe the bird realized this and flew away before she lost it.

"Can you help me? I don't know where I am!" She calmed herself enough to sound civil, and made every effort to not grind her teeth together. The dwarves continued to ignore her, and she was about to cry out in frustration when she noticed the old man looking in her direction questioningly. It took her a second for the thought to cross her mind that had been nagging her during this whole exchange.

Maybe the dwarves weren't being rude, maybe they couldn't see her. What if, even with its beauty and peace, this place wasn't heaven, but if this wasn't heaven, then where the hell was she?!

"Gandalf do you see something?" A dwarf with a funny hat shouted back to the old man, whose eyes hadn't left the spot she was standing.

"I just thought I saw an odd shadow Bofur, nothing more!" The old man, Gandalf she supposed, shouted back to funny hat Bofur. His eyes scanned briefly the area around her again, but then returned to the group in front of him and the conversation they had been having. Alexandra fell to the ground and began to cry quietly, she had hoped for a moment that Gandalf could see her, could answer her questions. The ponies hooves continued to trot, until the continuous beat was nothing but a drum in her mind. The peace she had felt before was now nothing like it had been, but instead had been replaced by solitude and emptiness. The sun was still shining, but Alexandra felt no warmth from it, realizing that where she was couldn't be heaven or any kind of happy afterlife, because never would happiness run hand in hand with such a feeling of desolation and loneliness, and that's what Alexandra was…alone.

She must have been crying for about five minutes when she heard incoming footsteps at a running pace, but she didn't even bother to look up when she heard them. It wasn't her best moment, but it was her moment and she was going to spend it feeling sorry for herself.

"Are you alright Miss?"

Alexandra's eyes popped out from her palms, and looked directly into the brown eyes of the man in front of her, no not man. He was definitely male, but he was short, much shorter than a regular man. Her eyes travelled down from his curly hair to his manner of dress to his large hairy feet that had to be four times the normal size. Well that was unusual.

"What are you?" the question escaped her mouth before her brain caught up with it, and by the sudden offended look on the man's face she knew he took high offense to the question.

"I Miss, am a hobbit! And since you seem to have no need for manners, you will have no need of my help! Good day!" and with that, the…hobbit took off down the dirt road. Alexandra was so taken aback and ashamed of her attitude that it took her a moment to compose herself. She stood and focused on a spot right behind the running hobbit, and felt the familiarizing whoosh. A couple steps now and she was next to him again, which caught him completely off guard though he kept running.

"Can you see me?!" she didn't care what this guy was, if he could see her he was her new best friend.

"Of course I can see you! What sort of question is that?" Well she certainly wasn't making this situation better. She stuck out a hand while they continued running.

"I apologize for my manners, you just caught me off guard. Can we start again? My name is Alexandra, but you can call me Alexa if it is easier to say."

"Alexandra, that is a strange name." Alexa waited for him to take her hand but when he didn't she withdrew hers. He looked at her out of the corner of his eye before smirking slightly. "I suppose no harm can come from it. I am Bilbo Baggins."

"Nice to meet you Bilbo." And you want to talk about silly names, Alexa thought to herself.

"Tell me, are you another member of the dwarf group that came to visit me?"

"You mean the ones with…" Alexa paused to remember the names she had caught. "Bofur, with the funny hat? And the old man…..Gand- something?"

"Gandalf, and yes that one. How far ahead were they of me? I had hoped they weren't too early with their departure!"

"They can't be much further, they passed by mere minutes before you, though they were less than hospitable."

"How so? Though they invaded my home they seemed a friendly bunch."

"Well…" Alexa started but they caught sight of the ponies tails around a bend, and Bilbo began shouting after them.

"Wait! Wait for me! Stop!" His steps were becoming more ragged but the dwarves had heard him as the group stopped and turned. He ran up to the oldest looking of the dwarves.

"I signed it! I signed the agreement!" He handed a piece of paper…no, Alexa thought, it wasn't just paper. It was much richer. Not the printer or notebook stuff that everyone used now-a-days.

The oldest dwarf took the agreement and looked over it carefully, Alexa heard him mumbling to himself. She took time to pause, realizing that though she should be wheezing for oxygen right now, she felt no sign of fatigue from the past few minutes of running. 'One of the perks of death,' she thought bitterly to herself. She hadn't failed to notice that none of the dwarves still didn't acknowledge her presence, even as she had made a entrance with Bilbo.

It was at this time, as Bilbo's agreement was being checked for validity, that Alexa's eyes came to rest on one dwarf in particular. He was near the back, talking and laughing rather closely with another dwarf, both of them very young looking compared to the others. While almost all the other dwarves had very lush beards, done with artistic styling's, this dwarf had just enough to pass as stubble, which struck Alexa as strange considering he seemed to be about the same age as the dwarf he was talking with. What really caught her attention though were his eyes, which as he laughed, lit up and became the highlight of his facial features. For a second, Alexa thought about walking between them to see what they were talking about that made his face so easy to look at.

"Well it all seems to be in order!" The eldest dwarf spoke pulling Alexa back to the scene behind her. "Welcome to the company of Thorin Oakenshield, Mr. Baggins."

"Well, thank you very much. I must ask though, for being so kind to me, for the most part, why did the company not stop to aid the young woman, who was clearly in distress at the side of the road?" Bilbo looked from one dwarf to the next, all of whom wore the same confused looks.

"There was no woman beside the road, Mr. Baggins." The head dwarf, who based on the speech must have been Thorin Oak-something or other.

"Of course there was, she is standing right there now." And Bilbo pointed directly at Alexa, looking around for confirmation that she was indeed standing there. Again, Alexa watched to old man, Gandalf, flicker his eyes at her and have them come to rest on her form just long enough for her to suspect he did indeed see her. The dwarves were another story.

"It seems, Gandalf, that you have brought us a burglar who is not quite right in the head." Thorin spoke again and the group chuckled loudly. Alexa felt the anger flare up again, and as if on cue, the wind became a strong gust for a second. She came to the conclusion that that was a pretty cool side effect.

"I am right in the head, I am telling you she is standing right there! In the middle of the group!" Bilbo was now extremely agitated, Alexa could see that clearly, and she felt guilty that the fact he could see her was making him a mockery in the company.

"The Took side of Bilbo Baggins I believe is showing with his jokes, but for now I suppose he should keep them to himself." Gandalf's eyebrows raised at Bilbo and then his eyes met Alexa directly, and with no words passing she got the message.

_I can see you, so can he, but everyone else can't. Do not cause Bilbo any unnecessary trouble. _He finished it off with a wink, _And try to keep the wind from blowing us away._

Bilbo was at a loss for words, so when Thorin called for a horse, he went along with arguing that conversation point. But as he was lifted, by the younger dwarf and his friend Alexa noticed, he turned his head and his eyes met hers. She shrugged and began walking alongside the group for fear that she would not find someone else who could see her again. As Bilbo was placed on his small pony she ran up beside him and spoke before he could create a problem again.

"Sorry, I guess they can't see the dead."

**xXx**

** Well what do you think? Like it, hate it? Either way let me know. I'm going to go back and work on my next chapter for my Two Towers story, but if I get enough feedback on this I'll be back to continue. By the way, sorry for the shortness, other chapters will be longer, promise.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Oh my, thank you all so much for reviews and messages. They are amazing and I am so glad you all like my idea. So without further ado, here is chapter two!**

**xXx**

"Bilbo…Bilbo….BILBO!" Alexa was highly annoyed at the moment, the one person that had openly admitted to seeing her was now deciding to ignore her completely. It had been a whole day of complete silence from the hobbit, and that combined with the whole 'She was dead' thing, these past twenty four hours were highly disappointing compared to her standard days.

She was still learning things about her new found state. For one thing she had discovered last night, while everyone was getting ready to sleep, that being a ghost she never slept…or ate…or went to the bathroom. She just stood there watching the group of males around her rest.

She sounded like such a creeper, even to herself.

"Bilbo," she popped back up in front of his pony. This trick she was slowly growing accustomed to, as were the ponies, who when she had done it the first couple times, had actually balked a couple of the dwarves off, Bofur and...axe head. She was forming a headache trying to learn all of these stupid names. Why she bothered she had no idea, it's not like they would talk to her anytime soon. "Bilbo, I'm sorry that they thought you were crazy, but for the love of god you can't block me out forever. It's rude and insulting and you forget I'm learning how to make the wind blow stronger." For emphasis she caused the breeze to blow a little harder. She had been practicing that trick once she realized how creeper-ish she was being last night watching them all sleep.

Bilbo's eyes shot to her momentarily before he huffed and urged his pony on. Alexa sighed and plopped onto the middle of the ground. The ponies had the decency to continue around her, confusing the dwarves aboard them but she could care less. It was only when the two brothers, which she had discovered last night, passed above her. She jumped up and walked between them for awhile.

"Do you think Gandalf was wise to bring along the hobbit. Baggins certainly seems distracted already." The blonde one spoke who Alexa admired had many decorative braids throughout his hair , beard, and mustache.

"Perhaps the stress of the adventure is getting to him now. Or perhaps he lost his female companion."

"His female companion is right here you…you-" Alexa lost her train of thought as the younger one laughed at his own comment with his brother, and his eyes lit up again as his smile grew.

"Kili, don't be mean. He was very eager."

'That's right, the younger ones name is Kili.' Alexa reminded herself with a smile. She wanted desperately to brush an annoying hair out of his face.

"You laughed as well Fili, you are equally as guilty."

Kili and Fili, the two brothers, the two extremely attractive brothers. It would have been nice to have been in that family gene pool.

"I am standing between you two idiots." Alexa muttered, even more annoyed now and the breeze picked up again, but that did nothing but to blow Kili's hair back and making him even more hard not to look at. Alexa ran up, due to being unable to control the popping yet, and started walking between Thorin's and Gandalf's ponies.

"Can you see me or not?" Alexa stuck out her lower lip and shot her eyes to Gandalf, wondering if she was just going to have a conversation with herself again. To her surprise, Gandalf's eyes switched to her and stayed there, accompanied by a short nod. "Holy flippin' crap you can see me! Bilbo!" Alexa started to wave back to the hobbit, whose eyes were on her surprising antics. "Bilbo! The old man can see me as well! See that's proof you're not insane!"

Bilbo's eyes shot to Gandalf who gave him the same smart smile he had given me while meeting the hobbit's eyes. Bilbo slowed his pony down and dropped to the back of the group. 'Score one for me!' Alexa thought happily as she popped back by Bilbo.

"Why can't any of the dwarves see you?" It wasn't Alexa's choice for conversation starter but she was just thrilled to have someone to talk to. She spoke as loudly as she pleased, after all no one else besides Gandalf would hear her.

"Not a clue buddy, that's something we will have to figure out later."

"I am not your buddy, I'm still not sure I haven't completely lost my mind."

Alexa huffed. "Gandalf can see me too, clearly you're not insane."

"Unless Gandalf has lost his mind as well."

"Granted that is a large possibility." Bilbo smirked slightly and Alexa smiled brightly at him. "See I am not so bad."

"For a ghost, I suppose not."

"Why thank you." Alexa did a short curtsy. "So where are we going exactly?"

Bilbo stared straight ahead, double checking that he was not being looked at by the company. "We are going to the Kingdom of Erebor, Thorin wants to reclaim his throne." Alexa's eyes grew wide, and she popped to the front of the group, walking alongside Thorin's pony.

"Reclaim your throne? You're a King?!" Alexa started walking backwards gawking at the dwarven king in front of her. In her mind, Thorin certainly looked like a king, even if it was hard to tell beneath all that facial hair. Still, she saw the steely determination in his eyes, the unshakeable resolve. She popped back to Bilbo.

"It must be nice to be able to do that."

"Do what?" Alexa realized he was talking about the mode of transportation she chose. "Oh well one of the perks to being a spirit I guess."

"I always read or was told in stories that ghosts floated. It's strange that you walk just like everyone else." Alexa laughed at this comment. "No offense of course. May I ask how long you have been dead, again I mean no offense by this."

"No offense taken, I'm surprised you haven't asked sooner." Alexa shrugged off some stray hair. "I've been dead for a couple days." Bilbo turned his head toward her.

"You are taking the fact surprisingly well…"

"I have never had the healthiest of relationships with my emotions. It's just a gut reaction to keep everything tampered down for awhile. I'll let my freak outs emerge once every so often."

"Still…" Bilbo was stopped short by loud chuckling coming from ahead of them. Both the hobbit and the ghost turned to see the back half of the dwarven company staring back at them with wide grin's on their faces.

"Thorin, Bilbo and his unseen companion seem to have made amends, and have been having a long conversation at the back!" Fili shouted forward, causing the front part of the company to join the back half with smirks and laughs, all at Bilbo's expense.

"He must tell us about it after we set up camp." Thorin shouted back, but refused to crack a smile. Alexa vowed at that moment that she was going to cause him to smile someday. The fact that he couldn't see her was just a harder part of the challenge she was going to have to overcome.

"Now now, let us not treat poor Mr. Baggin's too harshly, else you may find your company lacking a burglar." Gandalf chuckled as the group finished climbing up a hill on a cliff and decided that here would be an appropriate place to make camp, seeing as the sun was setting quickly.

Bilbo got off his pony in a huff and stomped off by himself. Alexa was stuck standing on the edge looking after again.

'And here things were finally looking like they were going so well.'

**xXx**

The campfire crackled cheerily in the dark, the smoke rising up against the rock's covering the campsite billowed in different directions as soon as it collided with stone. Alexa sat near the fire, in an empty spot facing the others. Bilbo sat directly across from her and once in awhile would meet her eyes.

'Well at least he's not completely ignoring me tonight.' Alexa thought bitterly the wind blew by, making the flames dance faster. Tired of the annoyed hobbit looks she was receiving Alexa stood up and walked over to Gandalf, sitting next him in the moonlight. She checked over her shoulder to make sure that no one could possibly hear Gandalf talking to himself.

"So.." Alexa threw her legs over the side of the cliff and looked out onto the beautiful landscape. "Care to explain a couple questions I have?" The old man huffed out some pipe smoke.

"I suppose I can spare a minute for the most unexpected member of our company." He gave her a smile which Alexa briefly returned before looking back out over the lands.

"Question one," She held up one finger for emphasis. "What exactly are you?"

Gandalf chuckled. "I my dear, am a wizard. Truly you seem to know very little about this world if you have never even come by my name."

Alexa was still reeling from the wizard comment and was now trying to picture Gandalf in long purple robes and half-moon glasses like Dumbledore. "That leads me to my second question. Where the hell am I?"

"You certainly do not speak like a lady of this realm I suppose." The wizard's eyebrows shot up and down. "You are in Middle Earth. When we first met you, we were on the outskirts of the Shire."

"Huh." Was all Alexa managed to say as she stared at the moon. It was so much to take in at once, being dead, finding yourself in an unknown world, finding that wizards and elves existed as well as beings she had never heard of, and only able to interact with two people out of the group. What a frustrating week this was turning out to be for her. "Final question then."

"Go ahead Alexa." Gandalf's pipe smoke formed a ship that sailed off into the distance, catching Alexa's attention for a time.

"Why can you and Bilbo only see me? It's not like I'm exactly subtle."

"Hmmm…" Gandalf took a big breath and continued on his pipe. "I have been pondering this predicament myself. I am not certain myself."

"Take a wild guess, you seem to be pretty good at those." Alexa said wryly.

"Very well," Gandalf smiled. "I believe that there is a possibility that because hobbit's are raised with stories told of ghosts from time to time, they grow up believing that beings like yourself can exist, and because of this Bilbo can see you. The dwarves were born and raised on war stories, stories of their ancestors, but were not grown into believing in spirits. Their stubbornness will stop them from believing you exist either."

"So I'm doomed to have only you and shorty over there as company?"

"Until we find others who have the ability, or one of the dwarves can be persuaded, then I am afraid so."

"Fantastic." Alexa sighed and saw the trees sway to her once again emotionally created breeze. This had the possibility of being a very depressing afterlife. She felt eyes on her and turned to see Bilbo giving her a sad look. 'How pathetic must I look right now?' the breeze blew by again.

"Mr. Bilbo why do you not tell us about your invisible friend, we could use some cheering up." Bofur quipped happily by the campfire while looking at the hobbit. Alexa perked up and stood, walking over to the fire and standing between the hobbit and the two dwarves who were giving each other smirks behind Bilbo's back.

Fili and Kili, the two hot brother dwarves, and Alexa couldn't help but smirk along with them as she sat near them. It was like being part of a joke that the popular kids, the ones that you want to ask you to the prom.

"I doubt you really want to know anything." Bilbo was starting to get that miserable look but Alexa nudged him, giving him a small smile. As the dwarves egged him on to talk about the girl no one else could see (to their knowledge) Alexa leaned over the fire and gave him a look.

"Just do it Bilbo, there is no chance they think you are crazier than they do already." The affronted look she received made her laugh and the flames danced. "Oh come on this is the only way I can communicate with everyone."

"Fine…" Bilbo was clearly giving into her but the dwarves thought it was to them, so there was a good amount of cheering throughout the camp for several minutes. Gandalf smiled and kept on puffing away.

"Sooo…." Bilbo hesitated. "What would you like me to know?" Fili and Kili, Bofur, Balin, and Ori were all paying attention, Alexa was quite proud for knowing their names, at least the first five. The other large part of the group chuckled, but went back to their own conversations. Thorin and the big, bald, tattooed dwarf gave a look of annoyed dismissal and went back to their conversation.

"Well tell us her name!" Fili started in on it. Alexa laughed at his enthusiasm. Bilbo looked mortified that he was going along with his.

"Her names Alexa…"

"Well that is a strange name for a lass!"

"Yes because Bofur is such a common, normal name." Alexa rolled her eyes at the dwarves. Bilbo smiled a little at her.

"She says your name is not normal to her." The dwarves listening laughed heartily before Kili scooted toward the hobbit, actually so close to Alexa that she could have touched him, instead opting to watch the fire dance in his eyes.

"She's here now?!" Kili was enjoying this "game" and wanted to keep it going. "Where is she?"

"Pretty much sitting in your lap…" Alexa blushed, as much as a ghost could, at the thought.

"You're right next to her, she's between you and me. Bilbo motioned with his hand to Alexa and the dwarves eyes followed it to the empty spot.

"My apologies mi' Lady." Kili smiled and scooted back towards Fili. "So what else can you tell us about her Bilbo." The smirks were still going strong.

"I'm eighteen years old." Alexa shrugged as Bilbo repeated the fact, as the dwarves began to let the comments fly.

"Eighteen!"

"She is but a child!"

"I fear we must have been corrupting her with our talk!"

Alexa shook her head in disbelief. "I cannot believe they are acting like this, I'm not much younger than these two idiots!" Bilbo watched her as she spoke her thoughts.

"What is it Mr. Bilbo?" Balin asked.

"She said she's barely older than these idiots." He motioned to Kili and Fili, who looked insulted, until he held up his hands. "Her words, not mine."

"We are certainly not such a childish age! I myself am 77 and Fili is five years older!" Kili huffed and Alexa fell over.

"No way in hell!" Alexa stared directly into Kili's unknowing face. He barely looked a day over thirty at most. What kind of world did a seventy seven year old look like that?!

Balin coughed and continued. "What else can you share tonight young Bilbo? What of her appearance?"

Bilbo, momentarily shocked by Alexa's….shocked outburst, took a second to realize what was being said to him and turned to study Alexa's physical side.

"She is just under Thorin's height I would say." The hobbit began as his listeners settled down. "She appears to have spent time in the sun, based on her skin."

'Or the tanning bed a couple times.' Alexa added to herself. She suddenly realized how much she was going to miss such a silly modern thing.

"Anything else?" Ori asked, his face eager to hear.

"Well…" Bilbo looked at her for a second more before turning to the dwarves. "She has hair, long hair, the color of fresh tilled soil."

Alexa looked at the hobbit inquisitively, the comment both flattering her and confusing her. After all no one had ever said brown hair looked like healthy dirt.

"Why is she following us around?" Fili spoke up again.

Bilbo stared at Alexa as she merely shrugged. "I suppose she doesn't know, all she's told me is that she's dead."

Even though none of them believed she was there, they had the decency to look sad at the thought of her premature departure of her life. Alexa swore she would always think of them kindly because of this moment.

"Sad for a lass to go when she's so young." Bofur hummed to himself, and Alexa couldn't help but realize that she would be really young for them.

"Would you lot stop looking so longing for a girl that only exists apparently to Mr. Baggins?" Thorin walked by and slumped against a rock, looking agitated at the current conversation.

"Sorry uncle," Fili and Kili spoke in unison and looked ashamed. Alexa got annoyed, having for a second felt like she was actually part of the group instead of the sad spirit she was. The wind picked up again. The group went back to talking about Erebor and treasure, ignoring the hobbit who stared into the fire.

The rest of the night was uneventful, aside from hearing a cry in the distance, which Kili was nice enough to label as an orc. Alexa was not thrilled with that thought, nor was she thrilled that Fili and Kili were trying to scare poor Bilbo. Thankfully, Thorin scolded them and they stopped, though Alexa couldn't help but notice the fact that even while he was ashamed, Kili's eyes were still amazing. Balin took it from there, and began a story of Thorin's past. He spoke of a lost kingdom Erebor, the dragon Smaug (which Alexa had not been informed of until this moment, and honestly thought about throwing herself off of the cliff), the great pale orc, and the King that had emerged from the prince. When Balin had finished all the dwarves were standing and staring with respect at Thorin, while Alexa stood beside him and actually took in all that he was. The look of respect from the other's grew as the seconds passed.

Alexa created a strong breeze to blow Thorin's hair away from his face, her little contribution to the moment.

**xXx**

** Alright there's chapter two! Once again thank you for the reviews, the amount and words I got motivated me to update this story faster than usual. Im off to NYC for the weekend so this chapter will have to last you for a little bit, but I will update when I can. Thank you so much!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Onto the next part.**

**xXx**

"Are we there yet?" Alexa bit her tongue as soon as it had slipped out, realizing that she had just sounded like a perpetual five year old. It wasn't like she had anywhere else to be at the moment, but the long days of just walking were starting to get to her, and her boredom was growing by leaps and bounds every second. There was only so much you could do by blowing wind here and there.

"Have you never walked anywhere before? We don't just arrive to our destination within a couple days." Bilbo huffed as he tried to keep himself dry in the downpour that was happening at the moment. Alexa smiled then look down at herself, being kept dry by the fact that the rain just went through her. What a weird sensation to realize that she would never need an umbrella again.

"Where I'm from if we didn't live within a mile of our destination, we didn't usually walk anywhere."

"Then how did you get somewhere that was a farther distance? Did you ride horses, carts?" Bilbo huffed again, but Alexa could see that he was using this conversation as a distraction from the rain.

"We had something like a cart, but we didn't need a horse to move it, and it moved much faster than a horse or cart." Alexa pursed her lips and stopped to focus on the ground. It was going to be difficult to explain things to Bilbo from her world, from what she could see nothing in this world was really technologically advanced. Her descriptions were going to have to be creative.

Alexa looked back up and realized the group was a bit in front of her now, and with a blink she had moved back up to beside Bilbo and began walking again.

"Was something the matter?"

"No.." Alexa shook her head. "I was just thinking about how different your world is from mine. I don't know how to describe half the things I would use on a daily basis."

"It certainly does sound very different, and confusing I must admit. I wonder how you can adapt to Middle Earth, which sounds so simple in comparison." The hobbit shook his head, water droplets falling from his curly hair onto his feet.

"Middle Earth is beautiful, I have to say much more beautiful than many areas in my world. We have developed it much more." Alexa took in the trees around her.

"I have never seen any of Middle Earth besides the Shire."

"Why not?"

"Well, hobbits do not normally go on adventures. We are a sensible kind, happy with our gardens, hobbit-holes, armchairs and a good meal."

Alexa paused before voicing her thought she was having. "I hate to point out the flaw in your logic Bilbo, but have you noticed that you are on an adventure at this moment?"

Bilbo smiled slightly, despite the rain. "No I hadn't, but it explains so much."

For the first time, despite the rain, despite the fact that she couldn't do anything besides pop places and blow wind, besides the fact she was deceased, Alexa laughed heartily. She didn't know why, but Bilbo's response and his face as he said it she found hilarious. She noticed Gandalf turn around raise an eyebrow but she didn't care. It felt too good to laugh.

"So-" Alexa caught her breath. "How did you get roped into this adventure then?"

"Oh you know, Thorin and Gandalf can be very persuasive. Gandalf told stories, Thorin sang a song , I ended up running after the group, and so on from so – Alexa?" Bilbo sat up and looked around, trying to spot Alexa, who had popped in front of Thorin and was just staring at the Dwarven king.

"You can sing?!" Alexa was trying to wrap her head around the deep voiced dwarf singing. For some reason he popped into her head wearing a plaid shirt and a cowboy hat with matching boots, strumming a guitar in front of some southern manor's porch.

"Hrum!" Gandalf coughed extremely noticeably and Alexa stuck her tongue out at him.

"Don't judge me! It was just an unexpected fact I did not know." Gandalf chuckled and the brim of his hat shook, water droplets rolled off.

"Gandalf, is there something you can do about this deluge?" One of the dwarves, Alexa thought his name was Dori, asked with obvious exasperation towards the weather. Gandalf responded that it was raining and it was going to keep raining as long as it wanted. The sassiness coming through the old wizard could not be denied. He was growing on Alexa every day she spent with the group.

Speaking of growing on her, Alexa popped back to the two dwarven brothers, who were grumbling about the rain like the others, their heads covered by warm looking cloaks. How in the world could these two be related to the ever somber Thorin. She wasn't sure if she had seen anyone like these two when it came to their usual upbeat attitude. Of course now it was dampened by the monsoon happening right now.

"This is not what I thought an adventure to reclaim our home was going to be like…" Kili was the most miserable out of the two, and Alexa herself was mad at the rain because it plastered his dark hair over his eyes.

"Did you honestly expect to have no walking involved? We are crossing most of Middle Earth." Fili smirked at his younger brother. Alexa had realized over her short time travelling with the group that Fili always seemed to have a look of a party boy, one who just got lucky.

"I expected some sort of danger, something more adventure like than just riding ponies in the rain while complaining about the weather."

"You poor boys, your lives must be so boring. How do you survive?" Alexa wished desperately that they could see her, talk to her, realize that she so desperately wanted to get to know them. The afterlife, though she had Gandalf and Bilbo, was extremely lonesome it felt like.

"Is he a great wizard or is he…more like you?" There was a conversation going on around the young dwarves and Alexa, and the question that Bilbo asked had clearly affronted Gandalf slightly. Apparently he didn't take kindly to not be included in the great wizards club. She popped back to Bilbo while Gandalf started spurting on about some wizard named Radagast. Alexa was just going to call him the Brown wizard. Why couldn't they just name some James or Bill here?

The rain finally let up about an hour later, and the dwarves were more than happy to remove their cloaks and shake out their beards(minus Kili, who only had stubble). Once they reached a sunny area near a river, they stopped for a rest and to fish.

"Has anyone caught anything yet?" The biggest dwarf, Bombur, whined as he stirred the liquid for the stew he was hoping to make. The three dwarves that were fishing shot him a look before returning their focus to the river. Alexa was lounging next to Bilbo, who was smoking his pipe.

"I will not miss the feeling of hunger." She closed her eyes in the sun and took in the smell of the flowers around them. Bilbo's stomach grumbled again, and Alexa shot him a look, but instantly regretted it when he actually looked ashamed. During her life, it had been Alexa in his position, usually when the pizza delivery was taking longer than thirty minutes. She sighed and popped up, before walking over to the water's edge. Bilbo watched her from against his rock.

"I wonder…." She muttered to herself before concentrating and stepping forward slowly, the stepping again, and again and again, until she was standing directly on top of the water, in the middle of the river. She smiled widely to herself.

"I wonder if I'll get a chapter in the Bible for this!" She shouted back at Bilbo, who gave her a confused stare. "Oh right, I guess that would only be understandable if you were from my world…" Alexa started to walk over the flowing water, watching for movement underneath it. When she finally had found a spot full of fish she waved Bilbo down again.

"Bilbo! Tell those three that you think you see fish right here!" She motioned to Ori, Gloin, and Balin. It was about time that she was able to help this group.

"Balin!" Bilbo waved to the elderly dwarf. "I think I see some fish over to the left!" The three fishing dwarves cast their eyes in the direction the hobbit's hand was waving, and if it wasn't for prior knowledge she would have thought they were looking directly at her. In fact, Ori and Gloin immediately cast their lines out again, Balin stood and squinted toward the water, then looked at Bilbo, before turning back and casting his line as well. Within minutes they had caught enough fish to feed the entire company.

**xXx**

That night they had decided to remain at their campsite, the rain of the day seeming to drain them of a lot of their energy. They had a large fire going, and almost all of the camp was asleep. Only Bilbo and Gandalf remained awake, which was perfect for Alexa to have an actual conversation.

"So tell me about this dragon that you are going to face." Alexa plopped down directly between the two.

"Smaug…" Gandalf's smoke rings puffed out between breaths. "He destroyed everything in his path on his way to the mountain Kingdom of Erebor, including the city of Dale. It's been years since the attack, and yet the ground around the Lonely Mountain is still so scorched that nothing can grow there, and nothing probably will until Smaug is destroyed and the mountain is free from his presence." Alexa took notice that Bilbo looked queasy at the description.

"So he's like the baddest of bad?"

"You certainly have an odd way of phrasing things Alexa, but I do understand, and the answer is no, there were enemies worst than even Smaug."

"Like who?"

"Well…" Gandalf leaned back and took another long breath from his pipe. Alexa may be new to this world, but she had still learned that this was the go-to Gandalf story telling mode. "In a past age, there was the Dark Lord Sauron, who reigned in the land of Mordor."

"Quick question!" Alexa rose her hand, and Gandalf gave her a look of surprise annoyance. "Are we going to be travelling through the land of Mordor?"

"No, we are not."

"Alright then, please continue."

"Hmmm…" Gandalf took another puff of his pipe. "As I was saying, Sauron was determined to cast all of Middle Earth into darkness, to enslave or destroy all those who existed. And anyone who stood against him he quickly sought out and destroyed."

"Well clearly he didn't win."

"No, though it was by luck and alliances that he was finally destroyed."

"What happened?"

"It was a great army of men and elves, and they marched onto Mordor to face Sauron's army. It was a fierce battle, and it looked hopeless, especially when the past King of Gondor was killed by Sauron himself."

Alexa looked over, Bilbo was listening to this story as hard as she was. Hobbit's certainly did seem to enjoy their stories.

"How did they win if the King was lost?" the hobbit asked eagerly.

"The King's son, Isilidur. He ran to his father's side, and as Sauron went to strike him down he cut his hand, removing the One Ring from his hand."

"Hold on a second." Alexa held up her hand. "The one ring?"

"Yes the One Ring. The Ring of power."

"So this whole war, was over a piece of jewelry?" Alexa bit her lip, knowing that it wasn't proper to laugh but finding the whole idea slightly preposterous.

"Not any piece of jewelry, the One Ring. One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them. One ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them. In the land of Mordor, where the shadows lie."

"Soooo….there's jewelry and poetry. This story just got Fabulous!" Alexa stopped waving her hands when the hobbit and wizard looked like they were about to have her committed. "Sorry, it's another thing from my world. So what happened to the One Ring then? If it was so evil then I'm assuming it was destroyed?"

"It was taken by Isilidur, I'm not sure if he destroyed it after Sauron's destruction or not. It could only be destroyed in Mount Doom."

"You have all these strange names for everything else, and you name something Mount Doom?"

"Alexa if you keep asking pointless questions I am going to have to ask you to refrain from speaking at all." Gandalf's tone was stern, so Alexa pursed her lips tightly together while Bilbo chuckled slightly.

"Is asking what happened to Isilidur a pointless question?"

"No, that one I will permit. Isilidur was killed in an ambush after the war was over, he thought himself untouchable."

"So who's the King now, of wherever?"

"There is no king, the line was broken. Now there sits a Steward to reign over Gondor, until a King returns."

"Oh…" Alexa popped over to the other side of the fire and pretended to warm her hands, just for something to do. The three sat around the fire for awhile in silence, contemplating on the story of long ago. Only when the sound of shuffling feet rose up did they turn in the direction of the sleeping dwarves.

"Am I disturbing something?" Balin walked into the light, his cheerful face now free of the exhaustion of earlier.

"Not at all Balin, please." Bilbo scooted over to make room for the dwarf, who took the seat happily.

"Thank you Mr. Baggins." Balin paused and looked between Gandalf and Bilbo, his jaw working enough for Alexa to realize he was thinking something over.

"You're not crazy, are you Mr. Baggins." It wasn't a question, it was a conformation. Bilbo looked slightly confused as did Gandalf.

"I don't believe so Balin."

"Balin where is this coming from?" Gandalf threw another stick onto the fire. It was then that Balin's eyes flickered over the fire, resting on the area lit enough to cast shadows. Alexa's eyes widened.

"Dear God…..you can see me?!" It was at her statement that Bilbo and Gandalf shared her shocked look and switched back to Balin, who shook his head but nodded as well.

"I cannot see you clearly, it's like I can sense where you are. But I can hear you Miss Alexa, in fact you were the reason that I woke up."

"How long have you realized?" Gandalf asked quietly.

"Since this afternoon, when Bilbo pointed out where the fish were…I saw her reflection in the water. It wasn't clear but I noticed the shadow where there shouldn't have been one."

"Balin, if I could hug you right now I would." Alexa was close to tears for having another person realize she was there.

Balin smiled, and the four went on for the rest of the night telling more stories.

**xXx**

The next day was just more travelling on ponies, though for Alexa it was like a whole new world had opened up for her. If she could get one dwarf to believe in her, then it meant that the other's were not hopeless causes either. It just meant she was going to have to make the see or experience things that they could not explain, no matter how hard they tried.

And Alexa knew which two dwarves she was going to work on first.

Truthfully, she wanted one to notice her more than the other, the one with the eyes that she couldn't seem to get out of her head, and now, with new found hope, she couldn't get the thought of those eyes seeing her for the first time. All day long she caught herself smiling at the mere thought, and so would pop back to Kili's side, and do little things, like brush her hand across his gloved one. She needed him to see her. Alexa was unsure why, but she was so drawn to the young dwarf. If she had still been a child she would have labeled this the beginning of a crush.

That night, Alexa decided to put her plan into action. The only downside of the day was the fact that Gandalf, in his anger towards Thorin and his stubbornness, had left the group and gone who knows where. Bilbo, Balin, and Alexa had all watched him storm off, and spent the half hour afterwards pondering whether he was coming back or not.

As night descended onto their campsite, Alexa wondered over to the area the ponies were being kept. Fili and Kili had been assigned to watch them, and were doing a god job as she approached.

"Do you think he's gone for good or do you think he will return?"

"I'm not sure Kili, but I'm sure he wouldn't have left us for good without making sure we were safe. He's just angry with uncle."

"But our uncle is the leader of this company, not Gandalf. Why must he question everything that Thorin does?"

Alexa was glad to hear that she was not the only one concerned about Gandalf's abrupt departure. As the two brothers continued to talk she wondered just a little distance off of their position. Focusing all of her thoughts on her wind ability, she created a gust strong enough that it broke a large branch with a crack and watched as it crashed to the ground.

"What was that?!" Fili was the first to emerge from one of the bushes, sword drawn, with Kili right behind poised with a bow and arrow. They walked past Alexa to the fallen limb, and both crouched down to examine it.

"It's just a tree branch Fili. Nothing more." Kili stood and scanned the area, but his weapon was down and he looked more relaxed. Alexa sighed angrily before walking off again.

There had been how many ghost shows on television, you think she would have picked something up about how ghosts haunt properly. If she could get one word out that they could hear, then that would shake them enough, but she had no luck so far. She sat down on a log as Fili and Kili walked right by her to the pony enclosure, and she was so lost in her own annoyance that she didn't realize anything was amiss until Bilbo walked up on the group. Apparently there were ponies missing, two in fact.

And it had happened when Alexa was distracting the two dwarves. Her bad…

"This is not good." Poor Bilbo looked alarmed, and he had yet to actually set down the two bowls of food he had brought for Fili and Kili. Alexa kept popping after the trio, looking at the devastation that had appeared suddenly.

"Trolls." Fili hissed quietly as the three ducked behind some foliage. That was when Alexa first saw a creature that didn't exist in her previous life. She covered her mouth to withhold the scream that wanted to escape as she took it all in. Trolls here were not the kind that lived under the bridges, they were large, ugly, and terrifying. She watched as the one carried two more ponies to the troll's campsite, right under it's arms.

This was too much for her to process, she sat down on the ground as the trio ran past her after the troll. She couldn't have imagined what kind of afterlife wanted to have trolls in it, there didn't seem to be any point.

Alexa had just calmed down her breathing when Fili and Kili came running by again, holding the two bowls that Bilbo had been holding minutes earlier. She jumped up and followed them enough to catch up on what was happening.

"We have to get the others, Bilbo won't be able to do this on his own."

"Fili we can't just leave him, something could happen while we are getting help."

"Well we can't take on three trolls with just us and a hobbit."

Alexa swallowed hard. There were three trolls? Bilbo was a goner.

"Fine." Kili shoved his bowl into his brother's hands. "You run back and get help, I'll help if things go wrong for Bilbo."

"Kili no-" Fili started but Kili was already taking off.

"Just be back fast enough with that help." And with that he ran off through the bushes. Fili looked torn for a second before turning and running back to the camp. It was no choice for Alexa on who she was going to follow.

"Why do you never seem to make smart decisions…." She stalked next to Kili as he hid beside the campsite. The three trolls were cooking something in a pot, and from their hiding spot Alexa could barely see the caught ponies, and Bilbo was nowhere in sight.

They had been waiting for about two minutes when suddenly the troll that had just sneezed screamed at something in his hand. She couldn't see all of Bilbo, but she saw his arms and legs, and was smart enough to realize what had just happened.

"Oh that is just disgusting…." Alexa gagged a little at the troll mucus all over poor Bilbo, who had been dropped and now was running around the campsite like a deranged man. Kili poised himself to spring, causing Alexa to put a hand on his shoulder.

"Not yet…" He didn't feel her or hear her, but he also didn't go springing forward. Alexa could hear the dwarves sneaking up around the rest of the campsite, Fili had apparently been very fast in his duty. When she turned back she saw Bilbo hanging upside down in one of the trolls grasps.

"Now. Now! NOW!" she screamed into Kili's deaf ear, but he and her were thinking the same thing as he took off and sliced into a troll with his sword.

"Drop him!" there was a cocky grin on that boy's face, and Alexa wanted to slam her head against something hard. This was not a good moment to be cocky. As the trolls began to come closer to Kili, talking about cooking him as well, Alexa began to panic, even when the remaining dwarves came barreling out and the fighting really began.

"This isn't good, this is NOT good!" she yelled at herself. They needed help right now, she knew that, but there was no one else around here to help. They needed Gandalf, but he had left them.

"Gandalf!" Alexa gritted her teeth and screamed out her frustration. There was a heavy wind and her popping noise and suddenly she was standing in a rocky plain, a grey cloaked figure standing in front of her.

"Gandalf!" The wizard turned around, shocked at the sound of his name.

"Alexa!? What are you doing?"

"There are trolls Gandalf! They captured Bilbo! The dwarves were fighting but I don't think they can win. They need your help Gandalf!" Alexa had barely finished her explanation when Gandalf took off at a surprisingly fast sprint back towards the forest.

"I told Thorin it was not a safe place to camp. How will I ever handle the stubbornness of dwarves." Alexa glided next to him as he spewed his anger. "Alexa, you need to go back and stall in any way you can. I'll be there shortly but you have to keep them safe."

She nodded and stopped gliding. If she had thought about Gandalf hard enough and felt strongly enough, she had managed to arrive next to Gandalf. She hoped she could do it again. She thought of all the dwarves, of Balin, Thorin, Fili and Kili. And then she thought of Bilbo and how scared the poor hobbit must be right now.

"Bilbo, Bilbo, Bilbo," she chanted to herself as she focused. The wind began to gust again and the popping noise sounded, and when she opened her eyes she was floating on top of a pile of bagged dwarves, with Bilbo, bagged as well, trying to stop one of the trolls from eating a raw Bombur.

"No , not that one! He has parasites in his….in his tubes." Bilbo made a face at his wording but continued on anyway as a troll in disgust threw Bombur back onto the pile. Kili was the unfortunate landing pad. "In fact they all do, they all have parasites. I wouldn't risk it I really wouldn't." The hobbit said in an extremely serious nature.

"Way to stall Bilbo, by the way Gandalf is coming." Alexa whispered as she stood next to him, proud of his quick mind. The other dwarves unfortunately were not so quick on the uptake.

"Did he just say we have parasites?"

"I do not have parasites!"

"You have parasites!"

Alexa was ashamed to see Kili was one of the biggest protesters. Maybe he was one of those cute but dumb types. Thorin had caught on though, and kicked Kili hard through his bag. The dwarves all looked onto their leader, and it dawned on them as well.

"I have parasites!"

"I have the most parasites!"

"I have the biggest parasites you have ever seen!"

"Oi vey." Alexa sighed as the one troll shouted "Enough!" She paused and began to rack her brains for more ways to stall, she had been trying to keep the fire low enough to not cook the spinning dwarves tied over it. Her worries were short lived though as Gandalf suddenly appeared and split a rock. Alexa watched in awe as the sun hit the trolls and one by one they quickly turned to stone.

"That….was…..awesome!" She jumped up and down while clapping, but then a wave of exhaustion hit her and she needed to sit for a second. Apparently all the popping and wind gusts had drained her ghost batteries. As she watched the dwarves undo their bags she couldn't help but shake her head.

If she wasn't dead already, she would have placed money that these dwarves would be the death of her.

**xXx**

**There you all go, hope you enjoy it. I'm sorry for how long it took to update but I had a lot of pressure to update my other story so I wanted to get that done. Again I hope you enjoy this! **


	4. Chapter 4

It was shortly after the troll encounter that Alexa felt for the first time the fear and danger to her soul.

As the sun continued to rise beyond the tree line, Bilbo and Gandalf were helping remove the dwarves from their bindings, all while the hobbit was being humble and trying to preserve the dwarves pride regardless of the fact that they had been captured and almost cooked by trolls. Alexa was merely sitting on a log, using one of the frozen trolls as shade for her eyes. After awhile, while everyone was collecting themselves, Gandalf waltzed over to her.

"I'm glad you managed to make it back in time to stall. You did very well Alexa." He smiled at her but she waved off his words with her hand, her eyes not leaving the hobbit.

"No need to thank me, by the time I got back Bilbo was already stalling like a boss. I just let him know you were coming and I tried to blow the heat away from those who were already over the fire."

"Indeed," Gandalf looked thoughtfully at Bilbo. "Still, you did come find me when needed…"

"Which I am still not sure exactly how I did it."

"How so?"

"Well…" Alexa paused and remembered her thought process during the whole ordeal. "It wasn't like I knew where you were, I just thought how desperately we needed you at that moment. A little wind and pop and there I was standing right behind you." She shrugged off his faint smile. "Whenever I had to get back I thought of how terrified Bilbo must have been and how I could not let him die like that."

"That could be very handy if you can learn to actually control it, rather than let it control you." That twinkle was back in Gandalf's eye and Alexa had to laugh.

"What are you two chuckling about over here after the rest of us came so close to death?" Balin walked over to us, a smile betraying the attempted sternness of his words. Alexa guffawed at the mock accusation.

"Master dwarf, I will have you know that you were never truly in any danger. If I had been unable to stop them then Bilbo clearly had everything under control and kept a cool head." She narrowed her eyes at him slightly. "Unlike half of your company, who took insult with his made up stalling tactic."

"Aye, I will admit not some of our brightest moments." Balin had the decency to look ashamed about this fact.

"Honestly, Thorin should be kissing the ground Bilbo's big feet walk on for last night." With that Alexa sat down, her poking at the dwarves done for the day.

"Indeed Alexa, I agree. And it is a fact I think I will go remind our leader of. If you will excuse me…" and with that Gandalf was up and gone. Balin and Alexa watched him somewhat corner Thorin in the distance.

"Is everyone alright?" Bilbo was suddenly standing next to Balin, though he was addressing them as well and Fili and Kili, the latter of which Alexa hadn't realized was standing directly behind her. She felt a blush creep into her spectral cheeks. Who would have thought that was even possible?

"You know…"Fili began, apparently choosing to wave off Bilbo's question on whether they were fine or not. "Gandalf is correct, if the trolls were here there must be a cave around, one where they would have hidden from the sun."

Apparently Thorin had the same basic idea, as they saw him coming quickly away from Gandalf, an eager look in his eyes.

"Dwalin, Gloin, help me start looking for the troll's cave. It must be around here somewhere!" The two older dwarves took off after their leader, leaving the rest of the group standing by the rescued ponies.

"Well I guess we'll just wait here then."Alexa muttered to Bilbo and Balin.

"I guess we'll just wait here then." Her eyes shot to Kili, who was wearing a look she was sure mirrored hers a mere second ago. Balin and Bilbo shot their eyes between the two of them, and Alexa quickly closed her mouth after trying to hide the fact that it had been hanging open was due to a yawn coming on. Not her brightest move, after all ghosts didn't yawn, but they didn't know that.

Deciding it was dangerous for her to be around Kili right now Alexa instead floated over to where Fili had gone. He had wandered over to one of the trolls and was casually lounging around underneath it to avoid the sun. She flashed back to last night, where while she had been watching Bilbo stall for time, she had sworn the blonde dwarf beside her had been trying to bite the Hobbit's ankles. It had been a sight to behold indeed.

"So sir," Alexa plopped down next to him, the dust around her rising slightly at her presence. "Last night was clearly not a shining example of dwarven brilliance. How do defend the choices you made while you were tied up in a sack, leaving the poor hobbit to defend all of you? Is it true you were trying to bite at his lower limbs when he was trying to stall for time to save your life?" She held out her hand like she was holding a microphone right in front of him.

"I may have to bite your arm if you don't stop holding it in front of my face for no reason at all."

Well, this was extremely awkward.

Alexa didn't know why she did it, but as soon as his eyes met hers with what she would later learn was a classic Fili look, she popped away from the young dwarf. When she rematerialized she was in a tree, about halfway up, directly above Gandalf and Balin. Alexa slumped down on the branch and held her head in her hands.

Fili could hear her. Not only that but he could see her too. That wasn't the problem for Alexa, the problem was trying to figure out how long he had been able too. How much had he noticed about her, because every time she was around him, she was around Kili, and whenever she was around Kili she did or said something silly or idiotic. She buried her head deeper as she thought about all that Fili had possibly seen or heard.

"Dear God," Alexa looked up through the branches up towards the sky. "If you have any kindness towards me, please let him just have realized I was here, let something from the trolls last night have had been the trigger."

"Gandalf, Balin." Her eyes shot down below me where Fili had joined the duo. "I was wondering if you had seen our unexpected companion come through here?"

"Fili my dear boy, what do you mean?" Gandalf whipped out his pipe and Alexa watched as he lit it with his fingers.

"You know exactly what I mean Gandalf, the ghost girl who has been following us since the first day. The one that most of our company can't seem to realize is here."

If Gandalf had known what he had meant, he certainly was great at pretending he didn't. He sputtered on his pipe while Balin looked at the young dwarf with surprised etched all over his face.

"Lad, how have you come to realize…" Balin didn't need to finish his question, it was obvious what the rest of it was going to be. Fili let out a sigh, like he was releasing pressure from not only his body, but also his soul. Alexa crept down closer through the branches, wanting to hear this herself.

"I didn't come to realize." Fili looked between the wizard and his kin. "I've known she was there since she first stood alongside the road while our company passed her."

Alexa shot a look to the sky. "Couldn't just give me this one could you? You and I sir are not talking for awhile."

"Why didn't you say anything Fili?"

"The same reason that Balin hasn't said anything, or you Gandalf, or why Bilbo is suddenly quiet about it. It was apparent at first sight that no one else could see her. I wasn't going to be seen as crazy, it was hard enough to convince uncle to let us come on this quest, I was not going to let him send me home because he thinks I'm seeing imaginary girls following us."

She hated to admit it to herself, mostly because she was still embarrassed to the point of no return as well as slightly miffed at Fili for acting like she wasn't there, but Fili did have a point. Thorin seemed like the type of dwarf to just send someone home if he thought they were crazy.

"Today was the first time that I actually was around her by myself," Fili continued and Alexa confirmed to herself after a thought, "So I decided that I was going to let her know that I indeed knew that she was with us. Only when I did, she got this horrified look on her face and just popped away. Which is why I came to you, I was hoping she was around the other people who could see her."

"I'm sorry lad, I haven't seen her since Thorin went to go look for the cave."

"Nor I, though I am sure she will appear soon." Alexa didn't like that tone in Gandalf's voice, the same I know something you don't know tone. She realized that Gandalf knew she was in the tree, though how he knew she was unsure since he had never looked up to see her. Balin and Fili both seemed to miss the tone though, and as Thorin called out that they had found the cave, the two of them went to follow their leader. Alexa waited for a couple seconds before jumping down from the branches, landing next to the wizard who didn't even flinch at her sudden presence, confirming the thought that he knew she was up there.

"If I was able to focus enough, I would smack that boy silly." Alexa growled quietly and flattened her dress. Gandalf chuckled through his teeth.

"Perhaps a little forgiveness would be in order. After all his argument did make sense on why he would not have mentioned it beforehand."

"True, but he could have blinked at me obviously or something, anything to let me know. Especially if he has been aware of me since the beginning."

"Fili is young and trying to impress his uncle. It would be good to forgive him and possibly befriend him, after all you don't want to spend all your time around old men."

"Gandalf, I'm pretty sure I'm going to be stuck in this form forever, so eventually you are all going to be old men to me. I'm like a vampire, minus the blood drinking."

"I'm sorry, what?" the wizard looked mildly horrified at what she had just said, and she wondered if they had vampires in middle earth, or anything equivalent to them.

"Never mind." Alexa saw the dwarves motioning to Gandalf. "I think they want your help with the cave sir, we should probably go." And with that she popped away.

**xXx**

Everyone had run into the cave after Gandalf had deemed it safe, and though Alexa was opting to stay outside in the sunlight she could hear the clanging of metal and the distinct sound of coins hitting each other. It would seem to her that the Dwarves had found some treasure already, and they weren't even half way to Erebor yet. She wished she had their luck, back in her world she felt like it was a good day if she found a quarter on the street.

It was at this moment that she took notice that besides the cave of death behind her, the forest in this area was lovely. The breeze was light, causing the leaves on the trees to shimmer and dance in the sunlight. She could hear birds everywhere, and saw animals dart out here and there from the trees or the grass. Middle earth really was a beautiful place.

"Excuse me?" The sudden appearance of an unfamiliar voice caused Alexa to jump and turn quickly. In front of her stood a family, the two parents and their two daughters. Based on the sound of the voice Alexa immediately figured that it was the father who had spoken to her.

"I'm sorry," she apologized quickly. "You startled me."

"My apologies." The man gave her a sad smile. "We were just wondering if you were the one who had defeated the trolls?"

"Not me in particular." Alexa held up her hands quickly and then pointed toward the cave. "My company did though, they're the ones you should be thanking."

"Yes well, we would, but we seem to be having the same problem that you have been having with them recently."

"I'm sorry, what do you mean?" Alexa knew that she must have a silly confused look on her face, but she was genuinely lost.

"Well, it's just…" and the father trailed off and looked at his daughters. Alexa followed his line of sight, and smiled at the children as they smiled at her, but then she noticed something she had not noticed before. One of the daughters was fading slightly around the bottom of her dress, the plants behind her becoming visible now and again.

Her mind shot back to Gandalf's words yesterday before he had stormed away. "_A farmer and his family used to live here."_

"Oh!" she let out a gasp of surprise. "You're the farmer, the one who used to live where that burned down hou-" She caught herself from finishing as the sad look crossed the entire family's faces. Of course they wouldn't want to hear about this, the trolls had gotten them and done to them what they had almost done to the dwarves. "I'm so sorry." Was all she could finish with lamely.

"Please let your comrades know how grateful we are that the trolls are gone." The father had that sad smile back on his face and Alexa felt like crying. "We must go now, before it becomes too dangerous for us here."

"What do you mean?" Alexa reached out towards them but the father was already guiding the daughters through the trees and she watched as the faded the further they got from her until they were gone completely. Her eyes turned to the mother, who was the only one remained and seemed to have stopped with the need to say something.

"I know they are your friends, but you should leave them and hide." She finally spoke, her voice quiet but strong.

"I can't leave them, they're all I know in this world. And what am I supposed to be hiding from?" Alexa got defensive and the comment, defensive and scared at the same time.

"Evil is spreading, he is the cause of it, and he is almost here." The woman suddenly grew wide eyed and looked around the forest. Alexa copied her but saw nothing. Whatever it was, the woman suddenly became more panicked sounding, and more desperate in her warning.

"Please, you seem like such a nice girl, please believe me and go run and hide!" and with that she turned and disappeared at almost the exact spot the rest of her family had disappeared to. Alexa moved to go after her, but as stopped as soon as she realized that she was by herself.

"What the hell?" her head shot back and forth, trying to spot where they could have disappeared to, but she saw nothing. It was only after a moment of frantic searching that she realized she didn't hear anything either. The birds had stopped singing, there was no breeze anymore, and all the animals had disappeared. Fear slowly crept up her spine as she spun on her heel and ran back the fifty yards to the entrance of the cave where the rest of her company had emerged she guessed just seconds before. The four that could see her all looked up at her, and all formed the same look of worry when they saw her face. She opened her mouth to warn them of the warning she had received from the woman, but was cut off when she felt the most unnatural wind possible starting to emerge through the trees. She was unsure of what it was but it wasn't normal, and as soon as it hit her she felt like her soul had been dunked in ice water. It was a hopeless cold within her, and as she thought to try and warn the four once again, she found such anger and hatred growing inside her, and she felt the need to destroy the company in front of her. After all, she was already dead, there was nothing they could do to stop her.

'This is wrong, I have to get out of here.' She thought to herself, fighting the urges she was feeling to destroy. She looked up once again at the company and saw the two dwarves, the wizard, and the hobbit recoil suddenly at the sight of her, confirming that whatever was affecting her inside was affecting her appearance as well. It was only when she saw Kili, innocent Kili, who was shaken by the sudden worry of his brother that she found the strength to move. She forced herself back to her feet and focused harder than ever, satisfied when she felt and heard the pop. When she felt the world around her again she didn't even open her eyes, she just collapsed to the ground, completely exhausted but feeling the hatred draining from her.

Alexa opened her eyes just once before she passed out, and in that split second she swore she saw a sled being pulled by rabbits.

**xXx**

"Do you think she's going to be alright?"

"I don't know, I know nothing about this."

"Why do you think she looked like that, she looked evil, terrifying."

"Whatever it is, I'm sure Gandalf will figure it out eventually."

Alexa's world began to swim back into view as she heard voices all around her. Her head was still spinning slightly, and she resisted the urge a couple times to throw up, if ghosts could even throw up. The question made her head spin again.

"I think she's waking up."

"Fili." She croaked out because it was definitely Fili who had just spoken. Her eyes opened a crack and she saw Bilbo, Balin, and Fili all sitting around her, looking forward. It was after a second she saw they would all glance back at her here and there though.

"Yes it's me Alexa." The blonde dwarf's hand rested on top of hers, only sinking a little bit after a minute.

"You suck so much right now." She didn't care if he didn't know exactly what the words meant, her tone left little room for interpretation. With a great amount of strength she sat herself up, resting on her forearms, taking in the surroundings around her. They were still in the forest, but it was shadier, and had less grass on the ground. Instead it was covered with the fallen leaves of the canopy above them. Her little group was perched in between tree roots while the rest of the group rummaged around in more empty area.

"Where is Gandalf?" Alexa asked as she forced her eyes to focus and stop swimming. At least the nausea had died down.

"He is down the hill speaking to Radagast, the Brown." Balin spoke quietly.

"Isn't he the other wizard we talked about awhile back? The one Bilbo asked if he was a great wizard or more like Gandalf?" She smiled as Bilbo smiled at the recollection.

"Yes, that is the one. He actually brought you to us, though Gandalf hushed him before he said that he had you, that way the others didn't ask questions."

"Does he have a sled of bunnies?"

"Uhhh…." Fili seemed caught off guard by the use of 'bunnies' but he quickly recovered. "Yes, he did appear with a sled pulled by rabbits."

"Fantastic." Alexa stood and the other three went to help her but she held out her hand for them to stop. "You guys are not going to stay incognito if you all are standing and reaching for something that no one else knows is there. I'll be fine, besides Fili , here comes Kili, and we don't want him asking too many questions do we?"

_Yes we do!_ Screamed Alexa's inner voice but she chose to ignore it. Right now there were more things going on than what her hormones wanted, and she knew that the two wizards over the hill side were her best chance for answers. As she regained her footing, she turned to watch Kili walk past her and take a seat right between his brother and Bilbo, the spot previously occupied by her.

It didn't take her long to find the two wizards, Gandalf had just wiped his pipe with his beard and had given it to Radagast to use.

"That is mildly disgusting you know." She coughed as she clambered down the hillside. The two looked up at her, though it took her a moment to realize that they were both indeed looking at her. Radagast coughed a little as smoke came out of his nose and mouth.

"Oh yes, glad to see you have recovered. Radagast may I introduce the most unexpected member of our group, Alexa. Alexa, this is Radagast the Brown, one of the wizard's of my order."

"Nice to meet you." She curtsied, unsure if it was the proper greeting or not, but she had more pressing issues going on at moment, so she cut right to the chase. "Gandalf, what was that thing that I felt? And why did you all appear more terrified of me than of it?"

"Alexa, Radagast and I were actually just discussing it. He claims that a distance away, there is a necromancer that has appeared."

If she hadn't been so naturally pale, both naturally and especially in death, Alexa was sure the rest of the color would have drained out of her face. "A necromancer?"

"Do you know what they are when I refer to someone like that?"

"It's someone who uses dark magic, who can control the dead, right?" Alexa sat down on the bank, this was a lot to happen to her in one day.

"In basic terms, yes that is exactly what it is." Gandalf looked at her sadly. "To answer your second question, the reason we were so shocked by you suddenly was because you weren't you. It was as if someone had shut something off in you, you looked truly deceased and rotten, and your eyes, even though they had sunk so low, we could all see the hatred suddenly in them. We all felt the danger."

Alexa's hand had been covering her mouth for about half of Gandalf's explanation, and once he finished she took her time before lowering it. "My God Gandalf, I am so sorry. I felt it inside of me, the cold, the hatred, the….evil for lack of a better word. I felt like hurting all of you and I don't know why. I barely made it out of there in control…"

"Fascinating." Radagast spoke mostly to himself.

"Indeed. Alexa how did you manage to run without acting on the magic you felt?"

"Uhhh…." Her mind flashed back to seeing Kili, to seeing worry cross his face which should never ever show worry. "I'm just that stubborn I guess."

"Mhmmm." Gandalf took another puff of his pipe. Alexa shifted uncomfortably on the balls of her feet.

"I think I'm just going to take a moment for myself." She popped without waiting for a response. She appeared next to the ponies, who were grazing above the dwarves campsite. Several silly thoughts crossed her mind as she stood against a tree. After all it wasn't just Kili, he couldn't see her, didn't believe in her, she couldn't have feelings for a guy who technically she hadn't even met properly yet. There was no way that those feelings could even be strong enough to fight against ultra dark magic which could control the dead. What was this, a cheesy romance novel?

She had just collected her thoughts and was turning to go back to the camp when she saw the distant hills being covered by black and brown spots. Her eyes scanned and she saw, with no doubt in her mind, that these wolf like creatures (which she realized as they got closer) were coming right for her group.

**xXx**

"Ok in all actuality, it probably wasn't the best move for me to spook the ponies, but they were defenseless and I didn't want them to get eaten!" Alexa shouted at Fili as he stabbed an oncoming orc (which Alexa learned is what they were called, as well as the wolf things were called wargs).

"Really? Who'd have thought our escape being scared into running away and leaving us was a bad idea?" He shot back at her, annoyance and amusement crossing his features, briefly relieving them of the terror and focus that comes with battle.

"Well someone has their sassy pants on!"

"What does that even mean?!" Fili looked at her with curious bewilderment, but Alexa was too busy noticing that half the dwarves as well as Gandalf, had disappeared. She turned in circles, trying to see where they all had possibly run off to, but only seeing rocks, grass, and blood…and Kili, Kili by himself firing arrows at the oncoming horde.

"Oh hell no!" Alexa felt the power surge, like a mega adrenaline rush, as she rushed toward the dark haired dwarf at full speed.

"Alexa, where are you going!" she heard Fili shout behind her, and she heard Thorin shouting for the two brothers as well as the remaining, and everyone heard him. Alexa saw Kili turn around in recognition of his uncle's voice, but he wouldn't be able to outrun the orcs, so he turned around and kept firing.

"Dammit," Alexa gritted her teeth and popped beside Kili, unleashing a large gust of wind in the direction of the wargs and the orcs. The front part of the pack were tripped up and stumbled from the force. Alexa took the moments reprieve to turn to Kili.

"Come on!" and with unintentional focus she grabbed, actually grabbed, Kili's wrist. They both looked down at his wrist for a precious second with shock, but Alexa regained her composure and started to pull Kili with all her might. Bless the dwarf, he simply followed the invisible force that held onto him and the two sprinted towards the large rock formation where Alexa saw Fili disappear and Thorin was standing in front of.

"Go, go, go!" She let go of Kili's wrist, and instead pushed him towards the discovered secret entrance. The dwarf stumbled and turned around briefly, before letting his uncle lead him down the slope into the tunnel, Thorin jumping down right after him. Alexa popped down so she was standing next to Fili and Bilbo. The group stared up into the entrance, all poised to fight the orcs that were sure to descend upon us. Instead they heard sudden horns and the painful cries of the orcs above us. With everyone's weapons starting to lower, they paused as an orc came rolling down the slope. Gandalf walked forward and poked the orc with his staff, confirming he was dead. Thorin stepped up and pulled an arrow out of the orc.

"Elves…" He growled.

"Well someone is not happy." She muttered mostly to herself but Gandalf heard and smiled. The group decided to take the pass they had descended down onto. There was silence among the group, aside from the random oofs from hitting the narrow walls, and it remained that way until she watched Fili shoot back, being grabbed by Kili and pulled to the back of the group.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Kili sounded angry, but he kept his face smooth in case someone turned around.

"Kili, what are you talking about?"

"I know she's real Fili, she grabbed my wrist!" His voice rose a little, and Alexa felt both guilty and caught in suspense. To be honest there was a little happiness in there as well, Kili knew she existed!

"I-I-" For the first time, Fili was at a loss for words.

"Fili, I heard you shout her name back in the battle. I heard you ask where she was going."

"Kili," They all turned as the light grew greater, we were almost to the exit. Fili turned back towards his younger brother. "Kili, we will talk about this later, when we are not around uncle."

"Do the others know?" Kili's brow furrowed, and Fili sighed.

"Balin does, but that is it. Now no more til later." And with that Fili walked away from his brother. Kili stayed back, still annoyed looking, but then his eyes and features softened, and he looked around.

"I don't know if you're around here, but thank you for doing whatever you did to save my life." He cast his eyes down and her stomach did flips. Alexa wasn't sure she was thrilled that this dwarf had this reaction on her but for now she did not care. She reached out and placed her hand on his shoulder, somehow connecting with him once again. He looked down where her hand rested and a faint smile crossed his lips.

As they glimpsed down onto Rivendell for the first time, Kili rested his hand on top of hers.

**xXx**

**Please don't kill me, I know it's been forever, but I just moved and I still have no internet and with work and all that there is limited time, but I have not forgotten all of you!**

**Next chapter will hopefully be up quicker, and I'll tell how Fili realized she was there right away, plus maybe some fluff between Alexa and Kili, cause you guys were patient with me! Til next time!**


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